>> good evening, i'm antonio mora. this is al jazeera america. >> five years ago later, i was right. >> facing the media. president obama fields questions on everything from syria to trade, defending his policies and reviewing what he has planned for next year. remembering the victims, the president paid a private visit to the parents of people who died in the san bernardino attack. and calligraphic message, prompting the close of an entire school district.

on the day congress passed a new spending bill, an upbeat president obama met with reporters in washington. defended his policies in syria but admitted the u.s. should do more in libya. pressing forward with his agenda saying he'll leave it o all on e field in his last year in office. mike viqueria has more. >> good evening, antonio. president insisting in spite of his lame duck status, there are things he will tackle in the coming year, names guns gitmo and trade. using executive authority to do what he vowed to do seven years ago, close the military prison

at guantanamo bay. >> we see how guantanamo has been used to create this mythology that america's at war with islam. and for us to close it is part of our counterterrorism strategy. that is supported by our military, our diplomatic and our intelligence teams. >> the move is sure to insense republicans as would another unilateral move the president might make, the president putting are curbs on gun trade. it's consistent with what i promised which is the most pro-labor, pro-environment progressive trade deal in history. >> other issues will be inescapable next year. at the top of the list the fight

against i.s.i.l. and the conditions in syria that have allowed its rise. despite the ongoing civil war that's resulted in an estimated 250,000 dead and some 10 million displaced. mr. obama claimed vindication for his august 2011 policy calling for syrian leader bashar al-assad to go. >> five years later i was right. >> but in another revolt of the arab spring in libya the president offered a mea culpa. >> the united states has some accountability for not moving swiftly enough and underestimating the need to rebuild government there quickly. >> but it is the aftermath of the san bernardino killings and how to stop lone wolves like the husband and wife accused of carrying out the attack that is front and center. mr. obama made a familiar argument. a balance must be found between a right to privacy and law enforcement'lawenforcement's ner

social media and e-mail. >> we'll be engaging with the high tech community to find out how we can in a appropriate way, do a better job if we have a lead to be able to track a suspected terrorist. >> and antonio among the achievements that the president points to in 2015, the diplomatic opening to cube, the nuclear deal with iran, and the climate summit in paris. >> bill schneider his take in the bik fight for democratic race for president. the sanders campaign says the dnc is trying to sabotage his campaign after his staffer stole information. bipartisan pleasure a good package, including $1.1 trillion to fund the federal government

through next september and nearly $700 million for tax breaks for middle class. >> president just landed in san bernardino a few minutes ago. melissa chan joins us from there. this is a private meeting, closed to the media. >> yes antonio, it is private is he not expected to speak to the press or to the larger community here. president obama and first lady meeting with the families at this moment. we understand he arrived about 25 minutes ago in san bernardino and the meeting is expected to last a little bit more than an hour. they are scheduled to leave 9:55 local time here to continue their trip on to hawaii. i'm standing in front of the makeshift memorial that sprung up whether the incident happened. there's been a continual stream

of people coming. nonstop for two weeks. the community it does remind me of how much feeling they are trying to go through right now. more than two weeks after the shooting, the city of san bernardino still finds itself the center of national even international attention, a terrorist attack in the unlikeliest of places. >> it's sad and i'm completely, completely shocked. because this person is an american citizen. he was born here. >> new claims by investigators that the shooter syed farook had not only been exploring extremist events, but was plotting with his neighbor fleeinenrique.

at this social services building that prompted president obama to speak to the nation from the oval office. something he's rarely done during his presidency. he's made his political points, now he comes with no plans to speak publicly but to spend time with those 14 families. some residents welcomed the visit. >> i think that it's nice too have that support for him to make the trip out here to show the support to the families. it gives a little bit of peace that the president knows about the city and is make that effort. >> but san bernardino is a more conservative part of california. with many gun owners. and for some republicans here, the visit is too little, too late. >> i think he needs to still show stronger leadership. you know it's two weeks later. i know myself and i don't know that anybody in the board could receive a call from the oval

office saying what could we do for you. >> the balance between second amendment rights and regulation, including at the local veterans of foreign wars hall. >> not everybody needs a gun. not everybody knows how to even use a gun. and i think president obama is trying to do the best he can, about gun control, but it's so political. >> it's a strange time for this community, still overwhelmed by tragedy, that happened to take place so close to the holiday season. and another development from earlier today the fact that the california governor jerry brown he declared a state of emergency, that essential freeze up the bureaucratic red tape and the state will be able to provide assistance services and resources to the county to deal with this tragedy antonio. >> melissa chan in san bernardino, thank you. a chicago police officer charged with killing a black teenager faced a court today, it

was jason mcdonald' van dyke's t appearance. his attorney will ask for a change of very, very you a. ending the war in syria, today's resolution calls for the syrian government and opposition leaders to take part in formal negotiations that would begin in january. >> the purpose of those negotiations between the responsible opposition and the government, is to facilitate a transition within syria to a credible, inclusive, nonsectarian governance within six months. >> the new resolution also calls for aceasefire. however that nic break in shootg

would not include i.s.i.l. >> highest level since 1970. the centers for disease control reports there were more than 47,000 overdose deaths in 2014, up 7% from the year before. the cdc says 60% of those deaths were caused by opioid pain relievers and heroin. president said today 6 million people have signed up through healthcare.gov. two million more than last year at this point. the administration projects that 10 million people will sign up by the end of 2016. still to come. democratic dual, presidential candidate bernie sanders and the democratic national committee are locked in a fight over voter information.

>> presidential candidate bernie sanders is suing the democratic national committee. his campaign manager says party leaders are trying to undermine his presidential bid.

but the dnc said sanders broke the rules. >> on the eve of the final democratic debate of the year, accused hillary clinton of engaging in dirty tricks. >> they are not going to sabotage our campaign. >> the eruption came after dnc chair debbie wasserman schultz one of hillary clinton's top supporters announced the sanders campaign was being suspended from accessing a massive democratic party databases. information that campaigns rely on every day. the dnc said it decided to block sanders access after his campaign stafort staffers accesd

information in the clinton campaign. >> forming an opinion of the actions we've taken to put the shoe on the other foot. if it were the clinton campaign that accessed the proprietary information of the sanders campaign you would be darned sure that his supporters would demand we take same action. >> but sanders campaign says his office notified them about the problem. for his side, they never shared the clinton fielz. >> we have to assume that our data was equally exposed and updated reports prove that it was. and we just want to -- we wanted to document and understand the scope of the problem so that we could report it accurately. we didn't actually like use it for anything valuable. and we didn't take custodianship of i.t.

>> wasserman schultz says that doesn't matter and she insists that agreements with both the sanders and clinton campaigns leave her little choice. >> the only available remedy for us is to make sure that we cannot have the information manipulated and the only way to do that is to temporarily suspend their access to the voter file. >> late friday the sanders campaign filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing the dnc of trying to tip the outcome. >> access our own information. information which is the life blood of this campaign. this is the information about our supporters, our volunteers, the list of people we intend to contact in iowa, new hampshire and elsewhere. >> and sanders supporters say this is just the latest episode of the dnc's improper support for hillary clinton pep they say

saturday night's democratic debate, traditionally a below interest day. >> high hi bill as we just heard david say the sanders folks accusing the dnc of being the tank for hillary clinton, sanders campaign says the dnc is now actively trying to undermine our campaign, looks like they're trying to help the clinton campaign. does he have a point? >> they cut sanders off from data collection, the grass roots effort of the campaign, debbie wasserman schultz said it was the only alternative she had.

but it does seem slightly overreach. >> when 4 people watch on saturdays, couldn't this have been handled quietly? >> this controversy with sanders it could have been handled better i think, it would never be quiet. the primaries going to be in a few week, either candidate or campaign accuses the other of. hillary clinton isn't talking about this much, i don't think she'll talk about it much in the debate. >> repeatedly accessing sensitive information, they also said their data was stolen so i guess you don't think it's a good idea for them to escalate matters especially since hillary is so far ahead. >> no i do not. it will make the sanders supporters angry. she needs those people.

iowa and new hampshire are going to be crucial. >> the dnc says it had no choice. if sanders campaign did take portion information they had to take some sort of action. is it some risk for bernie sanders to take such an aggressive stance? he has tried to portray himself as a different more ethical candidate. >> he is arguing the fault applies with the dnc not particularly him. but he says the dnc is being biased in their treatment of the campaigns. that's the sort of thing that gets his supporters fired up. and what he has to do is increase their passion, their anxiety. and declaring their support in public in front much friends and neighbors. a lot of people don't want to do

that, being fired up to do that. >> the president has acknowledged many nairns thought he was too low to, respond to he went on a bit of a speaking blitz, today at the white house trying to calm fears. do you think this was effective? >> i'm not going to say it's effective but now the fact is americans were worried, they found the president inadequate in his response. they wanted a president, essentially to do what jeb bush digeorge w.bush did, he doings o protect ordinary americans. so we understood the

consequences and i think this is a counter-pleasure. >> bill schneider, good to have your perspective on this, thank you. a week before curricula dozen cs of prisoners nonviolent drug offenders got a pardon. nasdaq and the s&p 500 saw big losses. economists said the drops were fueled by tumbling oil prices and fading enthusiasm for the fed's decision to raise interest rates. federal regulators say the nation's largest banks steered to hedge funds and mutually

funds but did not mention that those securities were managed by another company. texas teen who go probation. and a community that cails thats class is.

>> prosecutors want to know if a former lottery official rigs jack pots in more than previously known. iowa based multistate lottery association. its former security director eddie tipton was accused of fraud. u.s. marshals have joined the search for a texas teenager after convicted of killing in a drunk driving accident. argued he couldn't distinguish right from wrong because he was spoiled by his parents. known as the affluenza teen.

authorities are also looking for his are mother, tanya couch. touring pharmaceuticals said martin snelling resigned today, using money from other companies to pay off debts from hedge funds. lifesaving drug from $threafn.50 t$13.50 to$750 a pill. teacher asked students to copy arabic script, that turned out to be an islamic declaration of faith. as john siegenthaler reports, news of the controversy spread quickly on social media. >> it was supposed to be a simple calligraphy assignment. said she was using a standard

workbook to introduce students to the world's major religions. the homework siexghts says here is the shahada, the islamic statement of faith. this should give you an idea of the artistic complement of calligraphy. the students were not disod asko translate or speak the saying. >> i'm a christian and i want to stand behind christ. >> why couldn't we just learn to write hello, good-bye, normal words not that? >> nationwide, thousands of people took to social media to express their outrage. a typical tweet using #shahada

for the calligraphy lesson. dr. eric bond announced shahada will be removed from the curriculum. statement said, neither this lesson or any ore lessons are attempted indoctrination into islam, to renounce their own faith or profess any belief. on friday they cancelled classes in every school in the district, citing the tone and content of phone calls and e-mails. cheryl la port, invitation reads enough with the negative and ition nornt. let's show some common sense and support. the group is closed but so far it has over 3,000 members.

john siegenthaler, al jazeera. >> harvard is apologize be today for place mats, are place mats offered responses for issues such as islamophobia and black murders in the street. some students complairnd that they went to college to learn to speak for themselves. pope francis has recognized the second miracle to elevate mother teresa to sainthood. the catholic nun won the nobel peace prize. her canonization is widely expected to happen next september. two storm troopers

accompanied josh earnest when he entered the screening room. i'm antonio mora, thanks for joining us, ray suarez is up next with "inside story." have a great night, a great weekend. >> el niño, a cyclical pattern of warm winds and moist air has the potential to bring wild weather worldwide. this year may be a ferocious el niño year on its way. one bad boy, that's the "inside story."